From Arbonne, Herbalife to Avon we’ve probably all come across a friend, colleague or family member trying to sell these products to us in one way or another. Every social media channel is flooded with these schemes – it’s hard to get away from them.

Forbes describes a Pyramid scheme as “…a scam where a so-called marketing company promises to help you earn big profits in exchange for recruiting new participants into the scheme”.

New recruits are often encouraged to purchase stock up front such as supplements, makeup or jewellery to officially open their business. The premise is to sell the stock but more importantly recruit people to do the same and thus the cycle continues.

If you tuned into Episode 9 of the Vault you’ll know the Financielle teams opinion on the MLM industry, also known as Pyramid Schemes. If you missed it you can catch it here

We find that MLM schemes are predatory towards women and take advantage of them in many ways, they generally attract women with the promise of;

⏰ Flexibility – you can dictate your working hours which is attractive when trying to raise children and run a household.

💎 Entrepreneurship – the glittery heights of success are proven with images of luxury holidays, team meetups and private jets. If you move up through the ranks the rewards are MASSIVE… or are they?

🫱🏼‍🫲🏾 Community – the MLM firms often tap into women’s loneliness. Single parents, new mums on maternity leave or single women wanting to build a network of like-minded people.

🤑Huge rewards – the primary reason people are enticed into these schemes is because they are promised profits and money… lots of money!

The reality is a far cry from the claims used in the promo material.

People who have bared the scars of these schemes have even created anti MLM social media accounts to warn vulnerable women away. They expose the unethical way these companies do business including intimidation and pressure put on people to recruit new members. When you become a team member you are then forced to keep the pressure on your new recruits to recruit too.

You’ll start to notice your friend’s promos will change from product pushing to people pushing and the easiest way for them to grow their business is by approaching their closest circles.

Our advice… stay away. If you want to boost your income the most effective way of doing this is to boost your main income stream via your full/part time job. Focus your efforts here and you’re sure to secure bigger gains than playing around in the dangerous world of MLM.